The conversation was largely in Afrikaans, braai smoke filled the air, and Jack Parow provided a soundtrack to guys with names like Ernst and Jan opening beers and discussing rugby. Large bowls of pap disappeared quickly, salad was largely ignored, and cutlery and shoes were both optional. Sound familiar? Yup, that’s right: welcome to another regular Sunday in London...

I’m in England this week with Jan Braai, the man behind National Braai Day, and after a warm-up braai on Saturday at Shaka Zulu, the plush new South African restaurant in Camden, Jan and I headed out to St. Albans, on the outskirts of London, to join up with the Saracens team for a traditional day of South African revelry. And while the boys were a little low after losing to London Irish the day before in their season opener, it was still a good day out — and a great snapshot of the lifestyle of South African rugby players abroad.

Ethienne Reynecke’s house, venue for the braai (and which this morning apparently looks like a bomb site), is in St. Albans, where most of the team lives. Captain Ernst Joubert is just up the road, Schalk Brits and Neil de Kock are round the corner, and the rest of the attending South Africans aren’t too far away: Justin Melck (looking more like Nick Mallett with every passing day), Mouritz Botha, Deon Carstens, Jacques Burger, Derick Hougaard, Brad Barritt and Petrus du Plessis make for a strong South African community that revels in regular get-togethers round a braai.

The scars from the previous day were showing: Brad Barritt’s oversized sunglasses masked a great pair of shiners, Schalk was limping noticeably after a bruising clash with London Irish, and Hougaard, forced to play in front of a crowd not schooled in belting out ‘liefling’, was also a little tender after his second half run. But spirits lifted pretty quickly, largely led by a boisterous Carstens attempting karaoke to whatever music was playing; Toks van der Linde singing the national anthem at Loftus has unleashed a monster in South African props...

The big loosehead might not have cut the most elegant figure in full cry; slightly more so was the day’s other high profile guest, Minki van der Westhuyzen, the model in town on holiday, and quite happy to drop in for a London braai with fellow model Georgie Melck, wife of the greying flanker who’s taken surprisingly well to life in England given his framing background. But despite the array of familiar faces, Sunday was little more than a relaxing South African braai

General consensus amongst the players is that having the support network of fellow countrymen has made settling into life in England considerably easier. The weather, the small houses, the milder interest in rugby union in England as compared to South Africa, can make adapting to the Premiership challenging; the Saracens community of imports has created an extended rugby family that’s made life away from South Africa easier, and surely contributed to last season’s success.

And while the new season hasn’t started ideally, Saracens will definitely be a major contender in both the Premiership and Europe this season, with the South African contingent leading the charge. Winning bonuses will come in handy — Reynecke probably needs to repair his house, Barritt is spending a fortune on apps for his new iPhone 4 (he has Justin Bieber television on his mobile, but made me promise not to tell anyone), and De Kock’s family gets bigger every time I see him — but it’s the competitive nature of a talented group of South African mates that will form the core of more success for Saracens. Take the London Irish result as an anomaly; there’ll be champagne to accompany Sunday braais before the season is out.

  • From one rugby braai to the next; on Tuesday Jan Braai and I head up to Bath to join Pieter Dixon, Luke Watson, Michael Claasens and the Bath team for another braai. Good start for Bath this weekend, new skipper Watson scoring in the victory, so plenty to celebrate tomorrow afternoon — and one of England’s prettiest cities to drop in on. It all leads up to National Braai Day on September 24; wherever you are in the world, have those fires ready, meat marinating and beers cold in anticipation.
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